(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for evaluating the beat rate of the person's heart after having the person engage in supervised exercise. More particularly the present invention relates to an apparatus which may be a coin-operated booth type apparatus for evaluating the condition of a person's heart based on selected personal data provided by the person tested and the monitored reaction of the heart of the person prior to and after supervised exercise.
(2) History of the Invention
For years now, individuals have gone to medical authority and have exposed themselves to electro-cardiogram devices (EKG) which have provided a readout in an analog strip of the characteristics of the person's heart beat. The EKG readout is normally interpreted by a doctor who diagnosis the condition of the person's heart based on what doctors believe to be normal or healthy heart beat under relaxed conditions.
The EKG machine is a medically accepted tool that detects the electric impulses of the heart through the use of electrodes electrically coupled to selected parts of the chest. The detected impulses are converted to an analog read out which, in the medical profession are normally used in evaluating the condition of the person's heart. In operating an EKG, machine electrodes are positioned on the body of the person being tested which electrodes detect the electric impulses of the heart while the person is totally relaxed.
EKG machines have also been used to monitor a person's heart during supervised exercise, such as while a person exercises on a treadmill, for example. These are usually referred to as stress tests.
More recently other electrodes have been developed to sense and detect heart action. One example is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,702,113 which discloses an electrode apparatus mounted on the handlebar of a exercise machine which, when grasped by the hand, sense signals which have characteristics which correspond to the functioning of the heart.